Office vacancies rising again in London’s St James’s, but CD&R letting demonstrates its enduring cachet
Demand in the prestigious district slumped last year, but recent signs are more positive
The historic financial heartland of St James’s in the heart of the West End, where some of the world’s highest office rents are paid, has seen a rise in vacancy in recent quarters....
Inaugural CoStar London offices round table reveals areas of strength and weakness in a challenging market
CoStar analysts caught up with leading industry figures this week to discuss the London office market
Following similar events in Manchester and Glasgow, CoStar this week held a London offices round table with leading figures in the sector, as part of a series of discussions to try...
Industrial balance of power tilts northward as London and the South East’s pricing crown slips
Occupier market outperformance in the North and Midlands have supported softer yield decompression as southern regions struggle
London and South East industrial properties have seen a far bigger pricing correction than those in the Midlands and North of England in recent years, with rising interest rates an...
UK office yields continue to fall, contrasting the picture in the US
Sentiment towards the previously unpopular sector continues to improve on this side of the Atlantic
Average United Kingdom office yields fell sharply in the first quarter of 2025 as historically low prices and improving occupier market fundamentals tempted more investors to the p...
Location is winning the battle over quality as the London office space race heats up
Grade B and lower Grade A space in core locations is proving more popular than higher-quality space in the fringes
With London office workers returning in ever-greater numbers, signs are emerging that company bosses are increasingly favouring the quality of location over the quality of the buil...
UK retail take-up surges as the consumer environment improves
Leasing rose 25% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2025, while construction activity continues to plummet
National retail take-up climbed to a post-pandemic high in the first quarter of 2025 as retailers looked beyond April tax rises and committed to new store openings amid an improvin...
Still offside? Vacancies fall and rents recover in the home of VAR
Hillingdon and Stockley Park’s low office prices and nascent recovery may persuade more investors to go to the monitor
Stockley Park is now synonymous with football fans’ frustration at the time-wasting imperfections of the Video Assistant Referee, its most famous office tenant, but might it now be...
Tenants throw the book at Bloomsbury as office vacancy climbs to a near-record high
The area’s vacancy rate has risen to double digits, but a page has been turned on the recovery
The literary heartland of Bloomsbury, which sits in London’s Midtown to the north of Covent Garden and west of Clerkenwell and houses the Charles Dickens Museum, has struggled with...
Turning point? UK office vacancy rate falls for the first time in five years
More offices were occupied than vacated last quarter for the first time since the pandemic began
Rising global uncertainty failed to dent the recovery in the office occupier market in the first quarter of 2025 as take-up remained resurgent and net demand turned positive for th...
Paddington is far from bearish as office vacancy falls and rents rise
The area’s vacancy rate sits well below the London average
Paddington’s success story has continued in 2025, with positive demand pulling office vacancies down to the lowest level in central London. Investors may soon follow, although a bu...
British Property Federation-CoStar report: US capital surges into the UK amid strong dollar and bottom-of-the market pricing
The US is by some margin the single biggest investor in UK property as a jurisdiction
A recent joint report from CoStar and the British Property Federation demonstrates that the dominance of US capital in the UK’s commercial property investment landscape was one of ...
Spotlight on Enfield industrial: Lights fade on pandemic filming boom as vacancies rise
Industrial demand has softened in the north London borough, but there are reasons to be positive
Enfield’s strategic location at the base of the A1(M) and the A10, with good access to the North Circular Road (A406) and the M25, makes it one of London’s most important distribut...
Spotlight on Southbank West offices: Waterloo is losing the battle but could win the war
Office vacancy has risen sharply, but Lego mega-deal may change the game
The western section of London’s Southbank, with Waterloo Station as its centrepiece, had been weathering the pandemic storm better than most parts of London until recently. However...
UK economy shrinks as spring statement looms
Surprise 0.1% contraction in January adds to pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves as economic forecasts revised down
The UK economy underperformed expectations at the start of the year as weakness in the manufacturing sector pulled gross domestic product back into the red.
The great Oxford Street divide: Noho and Soho office vacancies head in opposite directions
The gap between vacancy rates to the north and south of Oxford Street has widened to record levels
The trendy West End submarkets of Noho and Soho have much in common but their fortunes have deviated widely over the past 12 months, according to CoStar’s data.
Spotlight on Covent Garden: office demand is bouncing back, but it’s a juggling act
Office vacancy in London’s theatre heartland is decreasing from high levels
Covent Garden’s famous streets, restaurants and theatres have regained their pre-pandemic vibrancy, but this is less true of its offices. Vacancies remain stubbornly high despite t...
UK economy surprisingly grew last quarter
Modest expansion and a strong December eases pressure on the chancellor and provides some optimism following recent forecast downgrades
The UK economy beat expectations of a slight decline to expand by 0.1% in the final quarter of 2024, with a strong December providing some momentum moving into this year.
Office yields starting to recover beyond central London as sentiment improves
Yield spread between central London and the rest of the UK remains historically wide
Improving investor sentiment towards the office sector was reflected in yield movement in the final quarter of 2024, with some yield compression finally being seen beyond central L...
Webinar: Risks and opportunities in UK commercial property in 2025
Watch CoStar’s recent UK outlook webinar covering key trends and forecasts for the year ahead
CoStar last week hosted a webinar, "How to thrive in 2025: Risks and opportunities in UK commercial property", in which senior director of analytics Mark Stansfield highlighted som...
UK office take-up soars to a six-year high
A busy December provides plenty of momentum heading into 2025
National office take-up reached a post-pandemic high in the final quarter of 2024 as companies looked through budget-related noise and committed to space decisions, mostly involvin...